DeltaFlightcase

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Revision as of 03:35, 18 December 2014 by Ultratux (talk | contribs)
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Projects
Participants Ultratux
Skills Woodworking, measurements, painting
Status Finished
Niche Mechanics
Purpose Use in other project

Building a proper flightcase for a Cerberus-derived delta 3D printer. It ought to be flexible enough to house both the newer -printed- model and the original model in ways that even rough treatment will likely be survived gloriously.

Challenges:

  • Find ways to keep weight limited so it can still be carried by a single person. Used 9mm plywood. Strong and light.
  • Determine how to best design inside of case to accommodate the different variations of the cerberus.
  • Find some way to cut foam into arbitrary shapes A sharp knife works wonders; No need for a hot wire cutter at all.
  • Find affordable sources for support foam and 'hang en sluitwerk' plus wheels. Ordered at zelfbouwcase.nl, very happy with 'em.

Due date: no later than December 19th, 2014

Challenges met:

  • Cheap non-birch 9 mm plywood; good compromise between price, sturdyness and weight.
  • Found wheels and butterfly-lock-thingies in my attic.
  • Ordered pre-cut 'hard foam' at zelfbouwcase.nl, so possibly avoided cutting it myself. Make calculation mistakes so had to cut it. But it's easy.
  • Protection will basically be just a tight fit inside between 20mm hard foam plates and some strategically placed additional hard-foam buffer blocks.

Progress:

  • All materials ordered and received, just need to move foam plates to TI by bike.
  • Bottom half of case made, glued. Next up is painting. Only after painting can wheels etc be mounted.
  • Top half is under way. It bends a bit too much, so it may need slight redoing or adjustment.
  • Bought/ordered a pneumatic rivet gun; mounting 80x 5mm rivets with the cheapest possible Gamma manual rivet gun is quite hard and painful work...

Lessons learned:

  • If you need to mount metal corners and wheels, NEVER mount the wheels first; they'll end up in the spot where the corners needed to go!
  • Never glue the hard foam on the inside before drilling all the necessary holes for the rivets; the drill might catch on the foam, even if unlikely.
  • A pneumatic rivet gun is AWESOME! If not for the ease of work, then just for the sound it makes while using it <3
  • Hard foam is completely different from soft foam; the former is actually VERY easy to cut with a sharp knife. Contrary to popular belief.